Need to nurture Blood Donation culture

FG Bureau

India

Jun 19, 2015

Gurgaon District needs 16,000 units of blood donation every year.

An act of donating blood can help save a life. However, there still remains a gross lack of awareness, as well as intent, among Indians, for this noble cause. Paras Hospitals, Gurgaon organised a special Blood Donation camp, aimed at encouraging more people to help save lives by donating blood. The Hospital also felicitated regular donors. Dr. Neeraj Bishnoi, GM Operations, Dr. Sunita Deshmukh, HOD, Lab & Blood Bank, Dr. Sonia Bindal, Blood Bank Incharge and Dr. Alok Gupta – Consultant General, Surgery were among the Paras Hospital officials who joined the cause. The help of blood donors is needed by patients in multiple cases. Apart from the more obvious accident victims, patients fighting cancer and undergoing chemotherapy need blood donors over prolonged periods to be able to replenish their plummeting haemoglobin and platelets. Unfortunately, India is yet to cultivate a culture of regular and voluntary blood donation. Most of the donors that turn up in emergency situations are family members, friends and relatives. The theme of this year’s campaign was ‘Thank you for saving my life’. It focused on thanking blood donors and strongly encouraged more people all over the world to donate blood voluntarily and regularly, with the slogan “Give freely, give often. Blood donation matters.” “In many countries there is a culture of active and voluntary blood donations, whereby healthy people keep donating blood regularly to blood banks to help them meet the emergency requirements of patients. In India, however, a number of misconceptions and a general lack of awareness prevent people from joining this movement. If they realise how much difference their small act can make to a life, I am sure more people will voluntarily donate blood. We need to increase regular blood donation by healthy people in India. A donor is accepted only is he/she is perfectly healthy and fit. The body is able to replenish the extracted blood in a short span of time, ” said Dr. Neeraj Bishnoi, GM Operations, Paras Hospitals.